How Fort Lee's Callahan's became a food truck

By ESTHER DAVIDOWITZ

FOOD EDITOR |

The Record

Since age 9, Dan DeMiglio knew what he wanted to do: work in the family business. But his parents insisted he go to college first. So he did, all the while dreaming of the day he'd join Callahan's, the legendary hot dog purveyor his grandfather founded in Fort Lee in 1950.

Daniel DeMiglio has relaunched his family's hot dog business, Callahan's, as a food truck. His dreams, however, go further than just the truck.

A few days after DeMiglio graduated from college in 2006, his parents told him they were selling the business, which was then owned by his dad and uncle.

This is a photo of Callahan's stand in Fort Lee taken in the 1950s. The business was operated by the same family for its run of 55 years.

DeMiglio, 31, has had nearly eight years to mend his heart — and to come up with a way to somehow make his lifelong dream come true. "I thought about it every day," he said. "Callahan's is in my blood. I knew, somehow, some way, I had to bring back Callahan's."

Callahan's was closed by its second-generation owners in 2006 and sold to a bank, which replaced it with a branch.

Last month, the dark-haired, super-energetic, currently Old Tappan, soon-to-be Fort Lee resident, who bided his time working in the NBA's entertainment division, did just that: He relaunched Callahan's ... this time, on wheels. Callahan's oversized deep-fried dogs are today sold out of a food truck. "It's a mobile Callahan's," DeMiglio said. "Now I can go to the people, to weddings, parties, festivals."

The addition of four wheels, DeMiglio said, is the only difference between Callahan's of today and Callahan's of yesteryear, which was a stationary, squat, red-brick restaurant that blossomed into a North Jersey institution. Young couples would go to Callahan's to seal their love, families to celebrate birthdays, graduations and anniversaries, and everyone to enjoy a deep-fried dog with hand-cut fries and an ice-cold soda.

"It's the same hot dog, the same bun, the same condiments. I even got the same cook," DeMiglio said. And even the same drinks, the kind that come in thick glass bottles: Yoo-hoo, Boylan's Birch Beer and Coca-Cola. And of course the same motto: "So big, so good."

And the response? "It's amazing, phenomenal. I didn't expect it to be this huge." When DeMiglio announced on Facebook that Callahan's is back, "I got 2,000 likes in one day," he said. "Callahan's isn't a hot dog. It's an experience, an American experience."

One that DeMiglio is thrilled to be offering again. "I see this as a second coming."

That experience was launched 64 years ago by DeMiglio's grandfather, Leonard "Artie" Castrianni. He was working at that other Fort Lee hot dog institution, Hiram's, but had his eye on the little snack bar and gas pump across the street — Callahan's Auto and Gas Station. Eventually he bought it, kept the Callahan name and transformed it into a fast-food restaurant which not only became a landmark – Callahan's even made it onto the cover of GQ magazine in the '70s — but spawned a half-century rivalry with Hiram's, which still sells hot dogs from its roadside stand in Fort Lee.

Both hot dog institutions had their devoted (and competitive) fans, sometimes within the same family. "It was like the Yankees and the Mets," said DeMiglio. "In some families, some members would go to Hiram's, the others to Callahan's." Callahan's was so famous that DeMiglio said, in 1976, a group of men asked his grandfather to bring his dogs to a stadium they were building in the area. His grandfather, whom DeMiglio called "his hero – the person I always wanted to be" (he wears his army dog tags) — turned them down. Giants Stadium had to make do without Callahan's.

"Can you believe it?" DeMiglio said. "My grandfather turned down Giants Stadium. I told my grandfather that I was going to take Callahan's into Times Square one day." And on his deathbed – Castrianni died in 2000 — he told him one more thing: "That I was going to continue Callahan's. That I would never let it die," DeMiglio said.

However, in July 2006, the business was sold to the Bank of New Jersey, which replaced it with a branch. "After 25 years, I had had enough of it," said DeMiglio's father, Ronald, today a teacher's aide at Hackensack High School. But his son, who fondly recalls peeling potatoes, emptying trays and scrubbing bathrooms at Callahan's throughout his school years, had nowhere near enough. "Callahan's is where I always wanted to be. I loved everything about it."

It wasn't as if he kept it a secret. At elementary school, he was called Callahan Dan. In college, So Big-lio (a combination of the business' motto and his last name). "Everyone knew he was meant to sell hot dogs," said his childhood friend Donald Mammano. "I knew it was only a matter of time before he would."

This isn't DeMiglio's first venture into the food service business. He was part-owner of The Bouwerie restaurant in Old Tappan from April 2011 to January 2014, when it closed. And a few cousins are in the business, too: cousin Tony DeMiglio owns Sanducci's Trattoria in River Edge and Jersey Boys Grill in New Milford and cousins Johnny and Aldo own Sonny's Restaurant & Pizzeria in Englewood.

On June 1, the Callahan's food truck, sporting a state-of-the-art stainless-steel kitchen with two deep fryers and a Sub-Zero refrigerator, is scheduled to have its Fort Lee "homecoming" at the Fort Lee Music and Arts Festival on Main Street. Meanwhile DeMiglio has been parking his truck at the Riverwalk Festival in West New York on weekends. And since he has, thousands of Callahan's fans have come for one of its famous super-long deep-fried dogs.

Erin DeRuggiero 39, who grew up in Teaneck but today lives in Minneapolis, was among them. DeRuggiero was visiting her family in Bergen County when she learned she could get a Callahan's hot dog again. "I remember going to Callahan's with my family. It brought back all those memories. It's a sentimental thing. Everyone has a similar connection to Callahan's."

TJ Vignola, 27, of Whitehouse Station, certainly does. "It's been a tradition in my family to have your first date at Callahan's. We were so excited to learn it was back. It brings me back to my childhood."

DeMiglio is hoping to create a whole new generation of Callahan's fans. The truck is only part one of his plans for Callahan's. "My dream is to have a Callahan's all across the nation," he said, "to make it bigger than it ever was." Because, no matter how stuffed or health-conscious a person might be, DeMiglio declared, "people will always have room for a hot dog. It's American."

How Fort Lee's Callahan's became a food truck

Daniel DeMiglio has relaunched his family's hot dog business, Callahan's, as a food truck. His dreams, however, go further than just the truck.

By ESTHER DAVIDOWITZ

FOOD EDITOR |

The Record

Since age 9, Dan DeMiglio knew what he wanted to do: work in the family business. But his parents insisted he go to college first. So he did, all the while dreaming of the day he'd join Callahan's, the legendary hot dog purveyor his grandfather founded in Fort Lee in 1950.

A few days after DeMiglio graduated from college in 2006, his parents told him they were selling the business, which was then owned by his dad and uncle.

Follow the truck

Callahan's The Food Truck will be parked at the Riverwalk Festival at Port Imperial in West New York every Saturday this month. On sale: deep-fried hot dogs, T-shirts and other clothing, Coke, Yoo-hoo and birch beer in glass bottles. The festival is at 25 Port Imperial Blvd.; the truck will be stationed there from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

DeMiglio, 31, has had nearly eight years to mend his heart — and to come up with a way to somehow make his lifelong dream come true. "I thought about it every day," he said. "Callahan's is in my blood. I knew, somehow, some way, I had to bring back Callahan's."

Callahan's was closed by its second-generation owners in 2006 and sold to a bank, which replaced it with a branch.

Last month, the dark-haired, super-energetic, currently Old Tappan, soon-to-be Fort Lee resident, who bided his time working in the NBA's entertainment division, did just that: He relaunched Callahan's ... this time, on wheels. Callahan's oversized deep-fried dogs are today sold out of a food truck. "It's a mobile Callahan's," DeMiglio said. "Now I can go to the people, to weddings, parties, festivals."

The addition of four wheels, DeMiglio said, is the only difference between Callahan's of today and Callahan's of yesteryear, which was a stationary, squat, red-brick restaurant that blossomed into a North Jersey institution. Young couples would go to Callahan's to seal their love, families to celebrate birthdays, graduations and anniversaries, and everyone to enjoy a deep-fried dog with hand-cut fries and an ice-cold soda.

"It's the same hot dog, the same bun, the same condiments. I even got the same cook," DeMiglio said. And even the same drinks, the kind that come in thick glass bottles: Yoo-hoo, Boylan's Birch Beer and Coca-Cola. And of course the same motto: "So big, so good."

And the response? "It's amazing, phenomenal. I didn't expect it to be this huge." When DeMiglio announced on Facebook that Callahan's is back, "I got 2,000 likes in one day," he said. "Callahan's isn't a hot dog. It's an experience, an American experience."

One that DeMiglio is thrilled to be offering again. "I see this as a second coming."

That experience was launched 64 years ago by DeMiglio's grandfather, Leonard "Artie" Castrianni. He was working at that other Fort Lee hot dog institution, Hiram's, but had his eye on the little snack bar and gas pump across the street — Callahan's Auto and Gas Station. Eventually he bought it, kept the Callahan name and transformed it into a fast-food restaurant which not only became a landmark – Callahan's even made it onto the cover of GQ magazine in the '70s — but spawned a half-century rivalry with Hiram's, which still sells hot dogs from its roadside stand in Fort Lee.

Both hot dog institutions had their devoted (and competitive) fans, sometimes within the same family. "It was like the Yankees and the Mets," said DeMiglio. "In some families, some members would go to Hiram's, the others to Callahan's." Callahan's was so famous that DeMiglio said, in 1976, a group of men asked his grandfather to bring his dogs to a stadium they were building in the area. His grandfather, whom DeMiglio called "his hero – the person I always wanted to be" (he wears his army dog tags) — turned them down. Giants Stadium had to make do without Callahan's.

"Can you believe it?" DeMiglio said. "My grandfather turned down Giants Stadium. I told my grandfather that I was going to take Callahan's into Times Square one day." And on his deathbed – Castrianni died in 2000 — he told him one more thing: "That I was going to continue Callahan's. That I would never let it die," DeMiglio said.

However, in July 2006, the business was sold to the Bank of New Jersey, which replaced it with a branch. "After 25 years, I had had enough of it," said DeMiglio's father, Ronald, today a teacher's aide at Hackensack High School. But his son, who fondly recalls peeling potatoes, emptying trays and scrubbing bathrooms at Callahan's throughout his school years, had nowhere near enough. "Callahan's is where I always wanted to be. I loved everything about it."

It wasn't as if he kept it a secret. At elementary school, he was called Callahan Dan. In college, So Big-lio (a combination of the business' motto and his last name). "Everyone knew he was meant to sell hot dogs," said his childhood friend Donald Mammano. "I knew it was only a matter of time before he would."

This isn't DeMiglio's first venture into the food service business. He was part-owner of The Bouwerie restaurant in Old Tappan from April 2011 to January 2014, when it closed. And a few cousins are in the business, too: cousin Tony DeMiglio owns Sanducci's Trattoria in River Edge and Jersey Boys Grill in New Milford and cousins Johnny and Aldo own Sonny's Restaurant & Pizzeria in Englewood.

On June 1, the Callahan's food truck, sporting a state-of-the-art stainless-steel kitchen with two deep fryers and a Sub-Zero refrigerator, is scheduled to have its Fort Lee "homecoming" at the Fort Lee Music and Arts Festival on Main Street. Meanwhile DeMiglio has been parking his truck at the Riverwalk Festival in West New York on weekends. And since he has, thousands of Callahan's fans have come for one of its famous super-long deep-fried dogs.

Erin DeRuggiero 39, who grew up in Teaneck but today lives in Minneapolis, was among them. DeRuggiero was visiting her family in Bergen County when she learned she could get a Callahan's hot dog again. "I remember going to Callahan's with my family. It brought back all those memories. It's a sentimental thing. Everyone has a similar connection to Callahan's."

TJ Vignola, 27, of Whitehouse Station, certainly does. "It's been a tradition in my family to have your first date at Callahan's. We were so excited to learn it was back. It brings me back to my childhood."

DeMiglio is hoping to create a whole new generation of Callahan's fans. The truck is only part one of his plans for Callahan's. "My dream is to have a Callahan's all across the nation," he said, "to make it bigger than it ever was." Because, no matter how stuffed or health-conscious a person might be, DeMiglio declared, "people will always have room for a hot dog. It's American."